


C is for Corpse

by ChokolatteJedi



Series: A to Z After Death (Take 2) [3]
Category: Warm Bodies (2013)
Genre: A-Z, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Challenge Response, Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 11:50:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1225234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perry realizes something</p>
            </blockquote>





	C is for Corpse

**Author's Note:**

> For the 1 Million Words A to Z challenge: C.

"Perry, I think I love you," Julie whispered.

Perry barely heard her. He had barely heard anything since that day, a few months ago, when they had snuck outside the walls. Since the day his father had tried to kill him. Since the day that Julie killed his father. Shot him in the head like an animal.

He had realized something very important that day, as they raced back to the relative safety of the stadium. As Julie tugged him along, firing blindly over her shoulder at the lumbering Corpses, he realized something. He had known those Corpses. Just a few days ago, those men had joked with him and his father as they prepared to leave. And somehow, between that moment and this moment, they had become Corpses. They had died.

And with perfect clarity, Perry realized that everything Colonel Grigio did was pointless. They were all going to die. They were all going to become Corpses one day. The walls just delayed the inevitable; the guns just delayed the inevitable.

Some day - some day _soon_ \- he was going to become a Corpse. And Julie was going to become a Corpse. And Nora, and Ben, and Colonel Grigio, and every other human who had somehow managed to survive until this point. They were all going to become Corpses in the end. The only alternative was to shoot yourself in the head now, becoming a lifeless body that could never come back. Better a corpse than a Corpse. Perry had considered it seriously a few times, but he just wasn't strong enough to pull the trigger.

Julie didn't seem to be affected by their disastrous jaunt outside the walls. Of course, she had seen her Corpse mother shot in the head by her own father at the tender age of sixteen, so maybe she had already come to this realization years ago. Maybe she had found some way to live with it.

Perry couldn't live with it. They were all going to die - they were all just Corpses-to-be. What was the point of doing anything else? Why not just open the gates and let the inevitable happen?

"Say something. Don't just say nothing."

Julie's words brought him back to the moment. Seeing her frown, Perry quickly tried to figure out what she was talking about.

Love.

If you could call this love. Love really had nothing to do with it. They were all just Corpses, waiting for the inevitable bite. Love was pointless.

But Julie believed in it, so he lied. Pretended that everything was alright. "No, I uh... I think I love you too, Julie."

Once she was a Corpse, she wouldn't remember this conversation anyway.


End file.
